Notes and Editorial Reviews

Michael Byron's intriguing sound is as daring as it is dramatic and lovely. His music carries a certain compositional wit, and is lush without being too overbearing. One of the most striking things about MUSIC OF NIGHTS WITHOUT MOON OR PEARL is the amount of emotion and activity involved throughout. The act of producing these sounds seems as if it was an obvious pleasure for the CalArts New Century Players. Atmospheric in nature, the music is entrancing, with an element of minimalism that seems disjointed and on the verge of collapsing.The recording presents two works for strings and keyboards, "Music of Nights without Moon or Pearl" and "Invisible Seeds for James Tenney," There's also a ruthless sounding work for four pianos entitledRead more "Entrances" performed by David Rosenboom. The latter is drowning in chaos, while the two former works flow gently, their complexity increasing with every measure. With sharp piano stabs crowning the slow, legato motions of the warmer string sounds, one gets the sense that the contrast in sound is an exercise in tension and release. Read less